Keeler Fired by New Hens A.D. Ziady
I was never a big Keeler fan, (especially after the pitiful choking loss in the 2010 championship game against Eastern Washington) but it is hard to blame him for the attendance when they mucked up the season tickets system so badly.
The move was made by new Athletic Director Eric Ziady, who took over that position in October.
“A lot of different things over the course of time led me in the direction to have some serious concerns about the direction of the program in the future. As I learned and listened and got my arms around the entire program and the state and direction, it led me in the direction of the decision (Monday). ”
Delaware only drew 20,000 fans to Delaware Stadium for one game this season, Maine, after doing so twice in 2011 and three times in 2010, the last time they made the I-AA tournament. By comparison, Delaware’s smallest home crowd in 2003 was 20,485, the year K.C. Keeler won the title.
I think that the subtext here is Delaware’s desire to move up to FBS status. They’re stuck in football purgatory right now. It costs a lot to run that program and there’s little upside. If Delaware had no plans to move up, then it makes sense to keep Keeler. Despite an occasional down year, he’s had success. But, if you aspire to move up, declining attendance and a slide into mediocrity won’t cut it.
Having said that, and not knowing AD Ziady at all, I’m shocked that someone coming from Boston College would be given so much power. Big-time athletics at BC have been sliding ever since their ill-advised decision to bolt the Big East for the ACC. Check it out. Neither their football nor basketball programs, both of which were successful in the Big East, are even relevant any more.
I suppose its possible that there are FBS ambitions. However the best conference UD could expect to be invited to would be the MAC which would feature opponents like Akron and Eastern Michigan as opposed to more regionally appealing ones like Nova and JMU. Thats the trade off for the big dollars of FBS.
I think that has more to do with a new AD wanting to make his impact on the department and the highest profile team.
I think Delaware should focus on staying a good school. You spend enough resources on a football program and you might JUST be lucky enough to end up like Penn State.
A new AD, with only 2 months on the job, doesn’t make his impact by taking out a successful, high-profile coach.
There has to be more to this. I’d bet that some higher-ups at UD didn’t like the way Keeler was running the program and would have fired him sooner, but the top brass needed the new AD in place to give them some cover for their decision.
When you’re being paid 300 clams a year to coach football, you’re being paid to win. And Keeler wasn’t winning lately. It’ll be a good change for UofD, and hopefully a good change for Keeler. (Shades of Andy Reid?) The new AD was just the hatchetman.